[SOLVED] TV Software Recommendation for Digital TV Sat Card (Astra 19.2)

[henry11]

Hello there,

what TV Software could be used for my Cine S2 V7 Digital Sat PCI Card on Mint 20.3?
Their Linux drivers are installed and lspci lists it correct.
Want to use it for Astra 19.2 (Europe West).
And there is no need for a whole Media center or such. Only for looking Digital Sat TV.

[dave8671]

This may help you get a idea of what software to use. I had a windows 7 DVR PC many years ago I built one. Prior to the win7 build I looked to Linux for the same idea. There is not enough specialized software development for Linux back then. Today I do not think its changed much due to the fragmentation of the Linux DE. There is to many Desktop environments for Linux and most Developers want a standard build from.

https://kodi.wiki/view/HOW-TO:Install_Kodi_for_Linux

https://kodi.wiki/view/Enigma2_Backend

Kodi forum post info on satellite TV
https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=215661

[henry11]

So as I understand for now, this is needed to view digital sat tv on Mint 20:

• Correct installed and recognized drivers of the sat card

• A backend like Myth-tv or nextpvr for the installation, handling and presentation of the satellite program

• An (optional) Media Center like Kodi or MythTV for having all my media 'under one hat'

[Qapla]

• A backend like Myth-tv or nextpvr for the installation, handling and presentation of the satellite program

• An (optional) Media Center like Kodi or MythTV for having all my media 'under one hat'

I do not have the same PCI card as you - I use a Hauppauge HVR-2255, but I have tried MythTV, NextPVR, and Kodi.

I found Kaffeine to be a much better solution. It installs easily from the Software Manager, setup is much simpler than Myth or Next, and it handles playback smoother than Kodi. Take a look ... https://apps.kde.org/kaffeine/ (but install from Software Manager!)

[ugly]

So as I understand for now, this is needed to view digital sat tv on Mint 20:

• Correct installed and recognized drivers of the sat card

• A backend like Myth-tv or nextpvr for the installation, handling and presentation of the satellite program

• An (optional) Media Center like Kodi or MythTV for having all my media 'under one hat'

I think it depends on what you want to do.

If you just want to watch live TV (not record), then using a backend software like MythTV or NextPVR might not be necessary. It depends on your hardware, but there might be instructions for just watching.

If you want to record, then you will probably want something like MythTV or NextPVR. If you set up MythTV then you would be able to both watch live TV and record.

MythTV is fairly difficult to set up. But I do use it with my HDHomerun tuner to record TV and it does everything I want to do. With MythTV I find no reason to use a media center like Kodi. You can just record the video and watch it in whichever video player you like.

[henry11]

If you just want to watch live TV (not record), then using a backend software like MythTV or NextPVR might not be necessary. It depends on your hardware, but there might be instructions for just watching.

That would be enough for now. But which software could be recommended?

I found Kaffeine to be a much better solution. It installs easily from the Software Manager, setup is much simpler than Myth or Next, and it handles playback smoother than Kodi. Take a look ... https://apps.kde.org/kaffeine/ (but install from Software Manager!)

Maybe I should try this one. But I fear a bit their ffmpeg libraries, because I always had sound problems afterwards (and had to reinstall Mint).

Tried to setup and run MythTV and NextPVR but I did not get it to work. I got it installed, but it is not running.
And it seems, that the recognition of my tv card is not the culprit lspci dmesg.
The Guides I found to install MythTV and NextPVR are a bit uncomplete for a newbie like me. But I would prefer this solution.
On W10 I used the very good DVBviewer Pro software. But it's not running on Linux. And I dont go back to Windows.

If you want to record, then you will probably want something like MythTV or NextPVR. If you set up MythTV then you would be able to both watch live TV and record.

At the far end: yes. But this goal can only be achived with detailed help in case of problems.
And that would be another thread then.

[ugly]

That would be enough for now. But which software could be recommended?

That might depend on your TV card. I use a SiliconDust HDHomerun and there are options for recording and streaming from the command line without using software: https://gist.github.com/nicholashagen/5306330

But you would have to search to see if your TV card has similar options. I did a quick search and did not find anything. But there were some results in German, which I cannot read, so there might be something out there.

Tried to setup and run MythTV and NextPVR but I did not get it to work. I got it installed, but it is not running.

When I first installed MythTV I used this video to help. It is for Ubuntu but it worked the same in Mint. But it was also specific to my tuner. You can see if it helps:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJGyyo-zrG8

[henry11]

For now it works fine for me with Kaffeine 'out of the box'.
On the long term I will go through the installation process with MythTV.

Thank you very much for your suggestions and assessments in this